Which to use
“rouille” and “roulé” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,664
- “rouille” frequency rank
- #11,478
- “roulé” frequency rank
- 31142
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | rouille | roulé |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Matière friable, composée d’hydroxyde de fer, qui se forme sur les métaux ferreux par oxydation au contact de l’eau et de l’air. | Gâteau consistant en une abaisse et une garniture enroulées sur elles-mêmes. |
Where the eye mixes rouille and roulé
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses rouille with roulé
A purely visual mix-up. rouille (\ʁuj\) and roulé (\ʁu.le\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31142, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
rouille is recorded at frequency rank #19,664, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁuj\. roulé is at rank #11,478, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁu.le\.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 31142, this pair ranks #305,691 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of rouille vs roulé
Shared letters: loru. Private to "rouille": ei. Private to "roulé": é.
"rouille" · 7 letters · shape CVVVCCV · "roulé" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- rouille ← oruille · roiulle · rouile · rouilel · roulile · rrouille · ruoille
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "rouille" for "roulé" ever safe?
Which is more common, "rouille" or "roulé"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "rouille" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "roulé" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #305,691 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "rouille" and "roulé" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rouble vs rouille". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #305,691 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.